Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 14

A-14 Sunday, Sept. 2, 1990 Santa Cruz Sentinel Racism charged as AIDS drug is challenged The New York Tlmaa Kpmron is the say. The New Yoi Time broadcast a number of said after Thn rfi'hate over Kemron is the programs Justice, a physician, His paper suggested that results Most American users are middle-class gay whites, who tend to he better organized to learn about experimental drugs, they say. At a cost of about $1 a day, interferon has become popular in the underground network that sells unorthodox AIDS drugs. first time that such accusations have been leveled primarily by blacks, among whom the number of AIDS cases is increasing rapidly.

Yet few American blacks have tried interferon, which is becoming increasingly available in the underground market, AIDS experts ward that she had been impressed by the results she saw and would like to see the drug pursued. In recent years a number of AIDS groups organized mainly by homosexuals have clashed with the medical community over the system for testing experimental drugs. about it. The medication is sold by the Kenyan government under the brand name Kemron. Kenyan scientists say they have documented marked benefits in more than 1,000 patients there, including 50 who they say no longer test positive for the AIDS virus.

No such cases have been reported among Americans. The reaction of many AIDS experts has ranged from curiosity to disbelief. Adding to the confusion, the World Health Organization's attempt to duplicate Kenya's findings produced data that Kemron proponents call supportive but that skeptics label discouraging. But many of the blacks involved in the debate suggest that white-dominated Western news organizations and researchers are playing Kemron down because it poses competition for expensive AIDS medications and because of racially based distrust of African science. "If this had come out of Sweden or somewhere else, it would have been page one everywhere," said Wilbert A.

Tatum, the editor in chief of The Amsterdam News. NEW YORK A drug that Kenyan scientists say is a cheap cure for AIDS a claim questioned by other researchers has set off a debate not only over its effectiveness but also over the charges of some New York blacks that racism has slowed acceptance of the drug. About 800 New Yorkers, mostly whites, are thought to have tried one form of the drug, low-dosage alpha interferon taken orally, apparently with little success. Hundreds more patients in Dallas and Fort Lauderdale, are using a different form, and many of them report modest to substantial improvements. The drug has also become a subject of intense interest among blacks and news organizations since the president of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, announced officially earlier this summer that a cure had been found.

The Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, a group of professionals and religious leaders in New York City, is studying the drug. The Amsterdam News, a weekly black newspaper, has run frontpage stories about it, and WLII3, a black-oriented radio station, has had not received a great deal of attention because of a belief that blacks "could not possibly have come up with an effective therapy or cure for AIDS that has eluded white scientists and researchers for the last decade in spite of the billions of dollars poured into research." Some experimental American AIDS therapies have received more prominent publicity, but Kemron has not gone unnoticed. Articles appeared in major newspapers as early as April, followed by articles in The New York Native, a weekly paper for gay men, and then in the black press and Newsday. A WLIB talk show host, Gary Byrd and Dr. Barbara Justice, a medical expert who appears weekly on Byrd's show, were in a delegation of black New Yorkers who visited Nairobi a month ago to learn more.

Also traveling, for treatment, was Cedric Sandiford, who survived the 1986 attack by a group of whites in Howard Beach that killed his stepson, Michael Griffith. Sandiford has testified in court that in the past that he used heroin and cocaine intravenously. swmauz IKEOCN. CUNIC QUIT SMOKING BY OCTOBER 3RD The Santa Cruz Clinic wants to help you Quit Smoking! In 8 intensive sessions, you can learn how to beat the habit. Sessions begin on Monday, September 10th.

MEETS EVERY MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY EVENINGS PM Facilitator: Jerry Pitts, M.A., RCP, CardioPulmonary Dept Manager, Dominican Santa Cruz Hospital I Guest Speaker: Don D. Hodges, M.D., FCCP, Pulmonolgist For information and registration call Santa Cruz Medical Clinic 458-5618 2 Days Only! Entire boys' girls' departments on sale! EE UY2, GET1 FR Free item must be of equal or lesser value than other 2 items. Sunday, Sept. 2 and Monday, Sept. 3 only This is the sale of sales! Time to make your back-to-school buys at unusual savings.

For every two items you purchase at regular price, you may choose one of equal or lesser value absolutely free! (Free item must be of equal or lesser value than other 2 items). Savings apply to regular prices only; not applicable to prior purchases, clearance, phone, catalog orders or prior lay-a-ways. Choose any items from our boys' and girls' departments. r. I 4 til timh I Choose from these famous names, plus others: Levi's Lee Chic Cotler" Carbon Copies" Bugle Boy Apparatus" No Excuses Cherokee Credentials' New Moves Charge It at these JCPenney store: ALAMEDA, South Shore Center; ANTIOCH, County East Shopping Mall; BERKELEY, Downtown; CAPITOLA, Capitola Mall; CONCORD, Sun Valley Mall; CORTE MADERA Corte Madera Town Center; CUPERTINO, Vallco Fashion Park; DALY CITY, Westlake Mall; FAIRFIELD, Solano Mall; HAYWARD, Southland Mall; MTN.

VIEW, San Antonio Center; OAKLAND, Eastmont Mall- PLEASANTON, Stoneridge Mall; RICHMOND, Hilltop Mall; SALINAS, Northridge Center; SAN BRUNO, Tanforan Park; SAN JOSE. Eastridge Mall; SAN MATEO, The Island; SANTA ROSA, Coddingtown Center. TJt.